Choices will Destroy (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 14) (48 page)

So, he was going to celebrate it.

For the rest of his life.

 
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Hoover Building

DC

The second she hung up the phone, both men were grinning at her. She knew what they were thinking.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m a big softie. I can’t believe I’m giving up coming back here. I was almost back home. I was so close I could taste the polluted, carbon filled air.”

Ethan touched her cheek. “Fate has a way of changing it up. Maybe we should finish this case, and then tell Gabe.”

“He’s going to shit two tons of bricks,” she said, sitting in the conference room as they waited for him to get out of a meeting. “I hate to ruin his good mood. He was whistling and all smiles this morning.”

Callen didn't get it. “He’s that excited about us joining his staff?”

Ethan explained. “No, someone got lucky.”

“He’s married. He gets lucky all the time,” Callen offered.

Elizabeth didn't say anything. She heard footsteps. She pointed at the door, right before it opened. Both Livy and Gabe looked like they had a week away at a spa.

She knew what she needed to do.

“Wow, someone looks refreshed this morning,” Elizabeth said, winking at her boss. “All that sleep must have rejuvenated you two.”

Livy laughed.

Gabe turned red. “Don’t do it, Elizabeth. I can make your life miserable.”

She snorted. “Yeah, it’s been such a pleasure cruse since I started working for you. I’ve been shot, nearly blown up…”

“Don’t forget abducted,” Callen added.

“Stalked,” Ethan offered.

“You three are funny. How about instead of busting my balls, you solve a case?”

Elizabeth grinned, but inside she wasn’t smiling. She knew he was going to be disappointed.

Hell!

She was disappointed.

Instead of trying to rile him up further, she leaned back in her chair. “We have a lead to follow up this morning. I just spoke to Christopher Leonard, and he gave me a direction.”

She told them about it.

“Okay,” Livy said. “Do you want me to go with you, or do you want me to get the report from Doctor Legend.”

“You better stay in house. Ethan is going to be my partner in crime as we race through the city streets.”

Callen lifted a brow. “Me too, right?”

“Yes,” she offered, grinning. “We’re taking this threesome on the road.”

Gabe opened his mouth.

“I know what your wife wore to bed last night. Think about what you’re about to say,” Elizabeth warned.

Livy laughed at the horrified look on her husband’s face.

“Get moving!” he growled, pointing at the door.

The three Feds got out of there, and fast. Provoking Gabe was one thing. Sticking around to feel his wrath…

It was a bad idea.

His good moods only went so far.

 
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

It was time.

Getting to the location had been a bitch, but after driving all night, the next victim was in sight. This was all part of the plan. Before it was over, the Blackhawks would suffer.

What was the best way to do it?

It was to show them that none of their secrets were safe. They weren’t better than everyone else. They simply hid the skeletons in their closets.

Oh, Elizabeth had broken the law—there was no doubt. If it was provable, it would be plastered all over the news. She’d hang for her crimes, if she didn't have so many people covering for her.

Gabriel Rothschild.

Ethan Blackhawk.

Christopher Leonard.

They would pay. Before this was over, they’d weep tears of blood and sorrow. In the end, they’d blame her instead of love her.

That was also part of the plan.

Yes, this was going to be fun.

Let them stress what was coming.

Let them chase their tails.

Let them see that they weren’t above the law.

In the end, they’d pay.

Dearly.

They’d hurt so many people in the aftermath of their lives, and they shouldn’t be exempt from accountability.

Now, with this next kill, they’d see how dangerous secrets could be.

Before this was over, there’d be destruction.

Theirs.

Payback was a bitch.

          
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Retired ME’s

Home

It wasn’t hard to find him.

The good doctor had a home just outside of Boston. He was now in his late sixties and no longer working for the city. As they pulled up to his house, the place looked cheery.

It wasn’t what they had expected. Maybe they were just accustomed to Chris and his haunted mausoleum.

“How are we going to play this?” Ethan asked, slipping on his leather gloves to protect his hands from the bitter cold.

“We ask him if he shared any details, and if he did… I kick his ass,” Elizabeth stated.

Ethan laughed. “No, that’s not happening. Callen missed PT yesterday. He’s going to do it. He needs to work that arm.”

“Yippee!” he shouted from the back seat.

“How is your hand?” she asked.

“It’s doing good enough to slap you on that sexy ass,” he quipped.

She gave him the look. “Is it good enough to service your own needs until you’re seventy?”

He snorted, knowing she was yanking his chain. “Nope. That’s why I have nurse Lyzee.”

“Let’s go,” Elizabeth said, rolling her eyes.

The walk up the path to his front door was slippery. Ethan grabbed her arm when she nearly fell.

“Maybe it’s time to pack up the cowboy boots?” he inquired.

“Or I can pack up the nagging husbands,” she replied. “They seem to be crossing lines all the time.”

Callen slapped her on the ass.

There was her proof.

“I’m going to hurt you both later,” Elizabeth muttered, as she finally reached the door. “I promise you won’t enjoy it.”

Knocking, no one answered.

They waited.

Ethan tried.

Callen tried.

Then they men opted to walk around the back of the house. Elizabeth stayed up front, watching the surrounding area. This house was pretty far back from the main road.

There were no other houses in the general locale.

When the door began opening, she turned to greet the doctor. Only, it was Callen.

“Uh…”

“We found the doctor.”

“Where?”

“He’s in his kitchen. It looks like someone tortured him, turned down the heat, and left him for dead.”

She pulled out her phone. Elizabeth knew this wasn’t some weird coincidence. It was simply a killer covering tracks.

It looked like Chris had been right.

Someone had spilled the beans, and now he’d spilled his guts.

All over his own floor.

 
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Across The Country

When he wandered to the door, he was confused. It was odd to get company. What made it even more bizarre was that it was the outsider he’d met at
‘Bubba’s’
.

It was more than strange.

“Fancy meeting you here. Can I help you?” he asked, staring at the stranger on his front step. “You’re a little out of the way, don’t you think?”

The smile made him nervous.

That instinct welled up, making the hair on his arms stand up.

Something wasn’t right.

Before he could speak again, the killer struck, slamming the rock into his head. The crunch of bone meeting stone told the tale.

It wouldn’t be pretty.

The visitor made sure he wasn’t going to get back up. That wouldn’t do.

He needed to stay down.

When there was the faint kick of his pulse, the plan could continue. Closing the door, the man’s guest got ready to take care of one more person for the game.

“I just needed to make a little house call. You have a date with the Blackhawks. Well, mostly with Callen. I hear you know him.”

There was laughter.

Then the fun began.

 
         
* * *
  B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x   * * *

Doctor Pressman’s

Home

Well, someone had worked the good doctor over good. By worked, Elizabeth meant tortured.

His fingers were broken, his eyes were bleeding, and his chest looked like someone had played
‘Tic Tac Toe’
and no one had won.

It was clear that the man had suffered.

Apparently, Chris had his epiphany a little too late. They weren’t going to find out what the good doctor knew or spilled to his assailant.

That really sucked.

Doctor Zane Legend knelt beside the dead ME, as Doctor Pressman was restrained to the chair. With gloved fingers, he ran them gently over the deceased man’s body, trying to ascertain what had happened.

“What do we have?”

“A body,” he stated, not even looking up.

She shook her head. The man had been taught well by Doctor Leonard. He liked to make her work for it too. They must all be masochists.

“Well, unless you want me to tie you to that chair and play the same game he suffered through, you’ll give me something other than attitude.”

He laughed, hearing the tone in her voice. It was half-hearted, and she’d never go through with it. “Yes, ma’am. The man was definitely tortured. His fingernails are missing, and his fingers are dislocated. Someone worked him over.”

“TOD?”

He glanced up at her. “Seriously? They turned his house down to thirty degrees. He’s been in a cooler for God only knows how long. I’m going to need to open him up, check the decomp of his internal organs, and then work on a timeline. I’m not a miracle worker, and you know that.”

“Maybe I should go to church, pray, and ask God to be my ME then.”

All the techs glanced up.

Livy laughed.

She recalled these days and missed them. There was nothing like watching Elizabeth on a tear. “How about how he died, Doctor Legend? Is that a safe question?”

The man stood and lifted the dead man’s eyelids. “We have petechial hemorrhaging. I’m going to bet suffocation. As to how, you’ll have to let me get into his lungs to find out.”

“Fair enough.”

They headed out through the room to search the man’s house. The techs had finished upstairs, and that was their first stop on the tour.

In his office, she headed right for a cabinet. It was huge, and she didn't doubt that he’d kept copies of his files.

“Chris was wrong all those years ago. He didn't destroy everything.”

Ethan began pulling drawers open to get a look inside. When he did, something was crystal clear.

His wife was right.

As he scrolled through the many files, Callen dug through the desk. Someone had been there before them.